>> this is my kitchen table and by filing system. over the last three decades i have been an investor. i had learned from doing my interviews how leaders make it to the top.

, and how they stay there. one of the most impressive young men i have ever met is west more -- west more -- wes moore. he was a fellow, and for the last few years has ran the robin hood organization. tell people what the robin hood foundation is, because recently some people think robin hood and they think of stock trading. >> during the whole gamestop yes go, i had people blowing up my

inbox asking me to unblock their trades. but the robin hood organization was started by the paul jones and peter deboer and a collection of other people who are in the investment business. they started this foundation and said they wanted to be able to take best measures and practices and started off making $40,000 worth of investments, and now 32 years later we have allocated just shy of $40 million. new where where poverty is the cause or consequence, we will find, one, build, if necessary, all of these mechanisms that will put us on a better pathway

of creating a better society. >> how much money does robin hood giveaway annually? >> last year we raised $200 million, since i have been ceo we have raised $600 million. we will take a portion of our endowment. robin hood's endowment is essentially zero. there is a uniqueness of our model that every dollar that goes in will go out. every year on january 1, it is like press go again. >> but you have staff, who pays for all of the staff and administrative costs?

>> the other unique mechanism is the fact that our board coveres all operational expenses. covid and this past year -- how do we consider the fact that we knew how damaging this would be damaging? we knew which communities would be hit hard. it was our community. i am proud of the way that we responded and rebounded.

we activated something called the relief fund. this is the third time in our organization we have activated the fund. we had a few specific focuses. one was supporting the nonprofit sector, the organizations who were doing the social service work. the second piece was emergency cash assistance. we knew that from data that we supported, funded, and helped build that over 40%, around 43% of people could not afford a $400 shock with cash. to what you immediately had to do get cash to people who needed it most and government intervention was not touching

it. >> many nonprofit organizations have suffered because they feel their donors are not wealthy as before. the your donors say, not now, i don't make as much money as i used to, or few generous donors? >> the reality was that not everyone was getting financially hurt during this time. while you did have people did seize their incomes increase or go away, you saw some that actually saw their businesses increase in jump. part of the challenge was how this divide shows itself. the second piece was, i think

lease all a measure of human pain and a universality of human pain that was impossible for people not to respond to. ♪

♪ >> let's talk about how you became the head of the robin hood foundation, because you work in your, but you are from baltimore. you're minding your own business, living in baltimore, and had you been doing anything like this for them to feel you're the right person?

>> i call myself the most accidental foundation head. they said they wanted me to run robin hood, and i said i don't know how i've run a new york based organization when i am in baltimore, and the second is i am enjoying the work i am doing in maryland, and the third piece was that i have been critical of philanthropy in the past. >> has you realized you are not that persuasive than, you could not persuade them to go after sonos. most people when they hear about this, they say, how could

anybody do all of this? you were born in baltimore, and your father died when you were young, is that right? >> my father died when i was four years old right in front of me from a rare virus. >> and your mother's into do you -- your mother sent you to new york? >> yes, my mother had a hard time. my grandfather was a minister in the south bronx and my grandmother was a schoolteacher. their house was barely big enough for them, but they found a way to make it work for all of us. >> so you moved up there, and write perfect child, right?

>> no, i had a hard transition. i found that i was hurting people that loved me to impress people that did not care about me. the first time i was in handcuffs, i was 11 years old. but i was 13, my mother made good on her threats and sent me to military school. -- >> did they straighten you out a little bit? >> eventually u it to a military college, is that correct? >> yes.

the will of my life all had one thing in common, they all wore the uniform of this country. then i joined the army. >> then you went -- eventually went to johns hopkins. and you must have done a reasonably well because you became a road scholar -- a rhodes scholar. what did you decide to do? how come you do not go to yale law school or harvard? >> i went to the world of finance working at a bank in london. i remember getting a phone call is a brand new analyst from my

good buddy, at that time major mike stencil who was with the 82nd airborne division. and he said to me, -- my soldiers are now deploying to afghanistan and iraq and i was working in high finance. i went back and thought about it , then called him back up a couple of days later and said mike, i am back in. they did a binding request for me, and i met up with the 82nd airborne division, and then

within nine months i was getting ready to deploy with the 82nd airborne division in afghanistan. >> ok, so you went to afghanistan, but did you ask for an office job or something like that? >> no. we were very much in the field. so much of the conversation at that time was iraq. we had 150,000 troops in iraq, and in afghanistan we only had 17,000 troops. when i went to afghanistan, people said, at least you're not going to iraq, but not knowing what was going on with the

fighting in afghanistan. within the first few days i saw -- i begin to see the fighting in afghanistan. >> how long were you over there? >> about a year. i came back from a mission one night, and he said, i want you to apply for this thing called the white house ownership. it is important for people in washington to get an understanding of the year you are having right now, so you -- so they can see what is going on in the desk on the ground. i was -- i applied for the white house fellowship and was blessed receive it. it was an unbelievable experience for me.

>> after the white house ownership and with condoleezza rice, what you decide to do? >> i started thinking about the things i was interested in and the skill set that i had, and then i decided to give finance a shot. i had the pleasure to work at city first as an analyst, and didn't vice president. >> so then you are new york? >> yes. i came back from afghanistan,

moved from baltimore to new york , and then moved back to baltimore. i just finished writing a book, which was an important time for me to reflect on my own life. that is when i made the decision to leave finance and focus on these issues that are really my wife's burning issues. and now you're going to be leaving robin hood, are you going to pursue higher equity, or something else? >> i am thinking about the work i want to have done. -- get done. it is about the right platform.

♪

>> being a road scholar and the white house, and what. >> they were writing a series of articles about four guys who tried to rob a jewelry store, and in this boxed robbery, they ended up killing a police officer. one of the guys who was the delete caught grew up in the same area, and i reached out to

him. i have now known wes for two decades. as i was getting ready to head to england, he was getting ready to start his life sentence. the other was mo -- >> what is your own view on whether the racial situation in the united states because no --

because for example, things have gotten worse. -- >> i see the potential for progress being made, and we are now talking about this as not just isolated incidences, but we are beginning to see the longevity of this. the damage of george floyd was not just the fact that we watched a -- his homicide on camera, but we watch how these acts and issues of systemic racism show themselves and not just policing, whether they're talking about educational attainment, wealth, mortality, a sit -- basic asset allocation.

it is race. it is impossible to understand this without -- the progress as we are now having a mature and honest conversation about what will it take for us to move into a better space, and we are watching population that are demanding justice. many african-american men of your age or older have told me of their own experiences being stopped by police. have you had those run-ins with police since being an adult? absolutely. it is both the fact that we have had these interactions, and the sound of a police siren has a

different pitch pending on what neighborhood you are in. your heartbeat speeds up cut -- speeds up because -- the sirens sound different in different neighborhoods. i have to have these conversations with my children. i read in the newspapers that you are thinking about running for governor of maryland. is there any truth to that? yes, i am thinking about it.

thinking about how to eliminate deep gaps. these are all issues in front of this now, and we are making general -- generational decisions now. i know the work i want to do, and i am thinking about the right platform. there is a unique way to put an and to this? suppose president biden called you and want to do to come the white house. would you prefer to work for the biden edmonton -- administration or prefer to run for governor of

maryland? for me this is not about i want to go into politics, for me, it is about the executive role controls the budget has the opportunity to change things for the future. tell us something you doing where you have failed so that we don't feel like we are walking

someone superhuman. is there something you can say you are not good at? there is plenty i am not good at or have failed at, but one thing about me is that i am not afraid to fail.